Every year, more and more people want to buy an apartment in Turkey. In 2025, foreigners bought 21,534 properties in Turkey, and a record 1,688,910 homes were sold in the country overall. Documents and the specifics of the procedure may seem like minor details when choosing a property. But this is not the case at all. In fact, the success and reliability of the deal depend on the paperwork being done correctly and the rules for buying property in Turkey being followed. In this article, we cover which documents to check for the property itself and what to prepare for the Land Registry; all the stages of the deal in order are described in the detailed buying procedure for property in Turkey. If you want to make a successful purchase without unnecessary hassle, contact Yekta Homes. We will help you avoid all the pitfalls of property deals. Read on to find out what they are.

Contents:

• An apartment in Turkey: checking the property documents
• A checklist for checking the property before paying a deposit
• Documents for registering ownership
• Buying property in Turkey: documents for the Land Registry Office
• Who needs a particularly thorough check
• Frequently asked questions
• A simple procedure for buying an apartment in Turkey with Yekta Homes

An apartment in Turkey: checking the property documents

Before concluding a deal, you need to check the documents for the chosen property. And the first thing to make sure of is that the home is not mortgaged. To do this, you order a statement of encumbrances (takyidat belgesi) from the Land Registry Office: it shows mortgages, seizures, bans on sale and annotations of contracts.

Another undesirable scenario is that the property belongs to another owner. This can happen, for example, when a developer builds on a plot belonging to someone else. The documents confirming ownership serve to rule out such situations. In Turkey, this document is the TAPU. Another important document is the ISKAN, the occupancy permit that allows the building to be put into use: it does not confirm ownership, but it shows that the municipality has accepted the completed building. If the developer is unwilling to show you these papers before the deal, you should definitely not rush into the purchase. The iskan is issued by the municipality after inspecting the building; a building under construction does not have one yet, so instead you look at the building permit (yapı ruhsatı) and a TAPU with a kat irtifakı annotation.

An important feature that all foreigners will face is that the paperwork for buying property in Turkey is done in Turkish. So even if the documents are shown to you, you are unlikely to understand their content right away. If a Yekta Homes specialist is with you, you will not have to worry about not knowing the local language and laws. With professional support, you will not be nervous or spend your own time on legal details. These tasks are best left to specialists. A sworn translator takes part in the transaction at the Land Registry if the buyer does not speak Turkish.

A checklist for checking the property before paying a deposit

Documents for registering ownership

So, you have decided to buy property in Turkey. What do you need to know for the chosen property to become yours? For example, that the only document certifying ownership of property is the title deed, or TAPU. Every owner must have this document. If you do not have it, the property does not legally belong to you. Foreign nationals register apartments in Turkey in the same way as Turkish citizens. So they, too, need to obtain a TAPU to confirm ownership.

Property rights are registered by the Land Registry Office. Remember that notaries in this country do not have the right to process or register property transactions. They can help draw up a contract stating the price of the property and the payment schedule. But such a contract is not the main document for the buyer. When buying property under construction, however, a notarized promise-to-sell contract (satış vaadi) is important: it can be annotated at the Land Registry, and then the apartment cannot be resold to another buyer.

Buying property in Turkey: documents for the Land Registry Office

You need to submit the following directly to the main registration authority, the Land Registry Office:

• The sale agreement; the Land Registry itself does not require it, as it draws up the official deed of sale itself, but you need the agreement as the basis for payments;
• Your passport, its notarized translation and copies, usually in two to four sets;
• Photos of the prescribed format, usually two to four; the Land Registry will confirm the exact number of copies and photos when you book the transaction;
• a Turkish tax number;
• a valuation report from an SPK-licensed company, mandatory for foreigners and valid for 3 months;
• a DASK policy for a completed home;
• receipts for payment of the title deed transfer fee (4% of the price, by law split equally with the seller) and the Land Registry fee (TRY 20,870 in 2026).

In Alanya, the documents must be taken to the district Land Registry Office where the property is located. In the past, they were then sent to the General Directorate of Land Registry in Ankara. There, the possibility of buying the specific property was considered and agreed with the Military Authority in Izmir. This is no longer how it works: the district Land Registry Office checks military and security zones itself in its electronic system, and no separate approval in Ankara or Izmir is required. If the Land Registry approves the transaction, ownership of the property is registered. On this basis, the new owner can obtain a residence permit in Turkey if the apartment is registered as a home, with a TAPU price of $200,000 or more and located in a neighborhood open to residence permits for foreigners. Processing at the Land Registry, from submitting the documents to registering ownership, usually takes 2 to 7 days. The transaction itself takes one visit to the Land Registry.

"Before paying a deposit, we advise asking the seller for a copy of the TAPU and immediately ordering a statement of encumbrances. For resale homes, we add a certificate of no tax debt and confirmation that the aidat and utility bills have been paid. This takes a day or two and saves you from the most unpleasant surprises," says a sales manager at Yekta Homes.

Who needs a particularly thorough check

• Those buying a resale home. The property may have a mortgage, a seizure or the previous owner's debts.
• Those buying for a residence permit or citizenship. The "home" designation on the TAPU, the valuation and, for citizenship, the ownership history all matter.
• Those buying through the seller's representative. You need to check the power of attorney: whether it gives the right to sell this specific property.

Each of these situations can be seen in the documents in advance, so the check is done before paying a deposit, not on the day of the deal.

Frequently asked questions

How do you check that an apartment is not mortgaged?

Order a statement of encumbrances (takyidat belgesi) from the Land Registry Office. It shows mortgages, seizures and bans on sale.

Do you need an iskan to buy?

Not for the purchase itself, but without it you cannot connect water and electricity in your name or get a mortgage. A building under construction does not have an iskan yet.

What documents are needed for the Land Registry transaction?

A passport with a translation, a tax number, photos, a valuation report, a DASK policy and receipts for the fees.

How long does registration take?

Usually a few days from the application; the transaction itself takes one visit.

A simple procedure for buying an apartment in Turkey with Yekta Homes

If you want the procedure for buying a new-build in Turkey to be as easy as possible for you, contact our specialists. They are professionals in the order and procedure for buying property in Turkey and will tell you everything you need to know to buy an apartment competently, safely and with a guarantee of reliability. For a successful and safe deal, call us at +90 533 782 0000.